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Lists, Complietion and Awards

Background. From 2002, MountainViews.ie has facilitated members to keep track of the summits they have visited. As of 2015, some 1700 members, we call them summiteers, use this feature of the website. Members can choose to complete various lists of differing levels of difficulty. MountainViews provides a mix of lists, from easier to harder. For completion of some of these lists, MountainViews offers awards as recognition of a personal achievement.

Completion Completion of a summit or place listed in MountainViews means that you have personally visited the highest point on foot and you are sure you did so. In some cases MountainViews may deem on its website that visiting certain specified summits can be claimed by reaching a nearby place in the vicinity of the summit.

Normally it is necessary for a member to mark the summits he or she has visited on the MountainViews website. It is preferable to mark individual completions as soon after visiting the place as possible.

When you have completed all of a list you may make a claim for having finished it. The claims must state in writing that you have reached all of the places listed. MountainViews endeavours to remind members who have ticked off all summits on a list on MV that they are eligible for an award, however this service is not guaranteed and also depends on the member�s email address on MountainViews being useable.
A claim must indicate when a member started and completed the list. In the case of the Local 100 it must indicate the base location.

MountainViews generally processes awards each year in time for the annual Awards Ceremony which is usually held in February in Dublin.

Easier lists and awards include:

The County Highpoints. This is the list of the highest place in each traditional county of Ireland. As some highpoints are shared between counties, there are some 27 of these, ranging in height from Carrauntoohil (Kerry) to Mullaghmeen (Westmeath). Although small in number, this challenge brings those that try it to a widespread variety of places and types of summit.

The Local 100. These are the 100 summits as listed by MountainViews nearest to where a member states they are based in Ireland. This has several advantages for a hillwalker including that visiting the summits will generally be a day-trip, will help them explore their locality and that many of the places are often largely unvisited. Awardees specify where they are based by grid reference for this award which means that there are almost as many lists as there participants. MountainViews recognises that some local summits may be unavailable for various reasons such as their being sea=stacks or being permanently barred by landowners. MountainViews therefore offers 110 summits therefore in the main Local 100 list of which the member is required to choose and visit 100 to complete the challenge. The Local 100 does not at present include Coastal Hills or Islands other than islands which contain summits meeting a list criteria such as "Binnion", "Carn" etc

The Hundred Highest. This all Ireland list only includes summits which have a drop or prominence of at least 100m. Completing this list will bring the summiteer to 100 summits each well separated from other tops in 31 mountain areas in Ireland from the Sperrins to the Cahas.

The harder lists and awards include:

Distribution of Vandeleur-Lynams

The Vandeleur-Lynam List. This MountainViews list was first published in 2009 and was developed from the traditional list of 600m summits created by Joss Lynam and CRP Vandeleur. The specification of the list was agreed with Joss Lynam. Summits must be at least 600m with a prominence of 15m. There are 269 summits in 35 mountain areas (as of 2015) meeting these criteria making a difficult and wide-ranging challenge.

The Arderin List. This list was developed by MountainViews and is the hardest single challenge for which awards are offered at present. The Arderins are summits of at least 500m with a prominence of 30m. Some 407 summits meet the criteria. Currently only five people are known to have completed this list. There is also an additional list, the Arderin Begs. These are summits of 500m or over with a prominence of 15m but under 30m and there are 124 of them. They can be considered the 500m minor tops. Members can choose to visit the Arderins or the Arderins + Arderin Begs (531).

Further information. MountainViews maintains various other Irish lists including the Carns, a list of 337 summits from 400m but under 500m, the 100 Best User Rated and also the Binnions, which are 484 tops under 400m with a prominence of at least 100m. Another popular list is the "Local 100" which are the nearest 100 summits to where a member indicates that they live. MountainViews includes a small selection of British lists such as the Munros and the Marilyns.

MountainViews has a �Summiteers Hall of Records� allowing people to see how they compare with others; as of Sept 2017 some 1981 members log visits. While MountainViews may perform some checks on visit authenticity, by their nature award claims for summiteering are largely a personal affirmation of the achievement.

Contributors Awards

MountainViews gives various awards to contributors. One group is for members of MountainViews who have built the site by adding mountain comments, photos, GPS tracks, forum entries, creating videos or other data. A public record is maintained in the �Contributors Hall of Fame�. Less quantifiable contributions to MountainViews such as information compilation are also honoured.

MountainViews also may give awards to individuals or groups who in the opinion of the MountainViews Awards Committee have contributed to hillwalking in Ireland.